Every mile a memory
by samanddianefan10
Summary: missing scene between seasons 5 and 6. Daryl and Morgan figure out their connections to Rick. one shot


Daryl, his face still flushed from the exertion of the close encounter with the unexpected trailer full of walkers, looked at Aaron curiously. This stranger-this remarkably adept and agile stranger- had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and provided timely and much needed assistance to Daryl and Aaron. Now that the immediate threats were resolved, the matter at hand became finding out who this stranger was.

Daryl didn't know Aaron well, but it was easy to assume that Aaron would be quick to offer their newfound savior shelter at Alexandria. For all of his life, really the pre-apocolytic world included, Daryl had rightfully been weary of new people. Having grown up in a world where he'd learned early on that not even family could be trusted, his instinct became even stronger in this worldwide battle of survival.

"That map..where'd you find it?" Daryl grunted as he gave the lookover to this stranger.

The man took a cloth out of his pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I don't know about you all, but it sure has been a long time since I've enjoyed a nice long shower. My wife was always after me about running up the bills," ...and quickly his smile disolved into a frown.

Daryl was good at reading people, and it was obvious the man had lost his wife...the way he hung his head down, the way he couldn't continue with his sentence.

The man had , like everyone, seem some losses that had changed him, that much was certain.

But Daryl couldn't lose track of finding out who this man was and more importanly, why he had on him a map that Abraham had not only given to Rick, but had been inscribed to Daryl's friend and leader of their group.

This man didn't seem like he was a threat, but Daryl had a disturbing thought. This man had been in the church where those asshole canibals from Terminus. If this man was a survivor from Terminus, and had managed to track and locate Rick to another state, then it was possible the whole group was in immediate danger.

The man took a deep breath. "Yes, everyone is lost these days. I suppose it might seem odd to carry a map. everywhere is all the same..walkers everywhere."

Daryl looked at Aaron. Different groups of people called those walking dead creatures by different names. Walkers was a term that Rick and their group had adopted.

This was odd. "Why this map?" Daryl continued.

"What's it mean to you?"

The stranger smiled. " It belongs to a friend of mine. Or I am guessing it does. His name's on it. The funny thing was I had traveled all the way through Georgia looking for him. And then I came across this map and I supposed it was a good sign."

"You know Rick?"Aaron asked before glancing at Daryl anxiously.

"How do you know Rick?" Daryl snapped.

"Truth is, I don't know him, not well. When all this madness came crashing down.." the man nodded at all the piled up walkers.." My son and I came across this dude..we thought he was one of them at first..and so we shot him. Once I heard him talking I knew he wasn't one of them. So I toom him in. Felt bad for him..he was in the hospital, didn't know what was going on. He just wanted to find his wife and his boy.."

Aaron laughed with joy. "Carl."

The man looked up in surprise. " You know Rick.."

"And I know you. You're Morgan. Morgan Jones." Daryl replied with almost a smile.

"Yes...yes I am. You know where I can find Rick?"

Daryl nodded at Aaron who spoke up excitedly. "Better than that, we can take you to him. Our sanctuary we just invited you to..Rick's there! So is Carl!"

Morgan looked to the skies and smiled. Then he turned to Daryl. "His wife...?"

Daryl shook his head no. " They had another baby. A girl. Little ass kicker." he chuckled.

"I'm real sorry to hear that. He loved her. All he talked about was finding Lori and Carl. He wanted me to go with him on the road, but...I had..unfinished business to tend to. As a matter of fact, he took me and my boy to his old police station. We all got to take showers there. Felt real good," Morgan smiled. "Rick grabbed all the guns he could fit into his duffle bag, gave a couple to me. He's a smart one, that Rick Grimes."

Daryl stood still. this all made sense. it all connected. "My brother got stuck in downtown Atlanta. That's where Rick had lost his guns. No one wanted to go risk their lives for those guns or for my brother. But Rick did. He tried."

Morgan held out his hand. "Nice to meet you.."

"Daryl. And this is Aaron. We'd best be getting back. You coming?"

Morgan smiled. "Thank you. It will be good to see Rick again."

As they started their trek back home, Aaron asked a question of Morgan."Why Rick? Seems like an awful lot of trouble to find a person you didnt know well. Of course, we are thankful you did. It will be good for Rick to see you."

Morgan thought about it. "I asked myself that

.as you know its mighty hard out there. Best I could come up with was thst Rick is the last person alive to know my boy. I guess...I guess it just helped knowing there was someone out there other than me who could remember my boy. I travel light as you can see..but them memories, they sure get heavy."

No one spoke for the rest of the trip back...what could they say, really?

Daryl knew Rick had his own struggles, dealt with more than his fair share of shit.

Everything Morgan said..it all made sense.

Daryl never believed in miracles, but this might be as close to one as Rick could have these days.

And though neither Daryl, nor Aaron, nor even Morgan or Rick knew it yet, the numbers of friends they would have would drastically decrease. This was as close to a miracle as any of them would likely ever see again

A good friend was hard to find, and would be painful to lose...

There would be a day where everything...everything would change

and that day was looming right around the corner

-Fin-


End file.
